Air Marshall Islands 34-seat Dash-8 suffered damage to its right wingtip when it ran into a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration vertical antenna tower next to the runway apron while being towed to its hangar without the required number of safety personnel.
The grounding of the Dash-8 cut off all air service to the dozens of remote landing strips in this watery nation of 58,000. Since Aug. 2007, air service to remote outer islands has been inconsistent, often with months between flights as planes have been repeatedly grounded with mechanical problems.
Air Marshall Islands and the Directorate of Civil Aviation officials confirmed that standard procedure is for three people to be on duty when a plane is towed on the runway in Majuro: one in the tow truck, one in the plane and the other a “wing walker” to ensure the plane’s wing has safe clearance. There no wing walker on duty when the accident occurred Tuesday, and airport officials reported the Dash-8 was more than 20-feet over the wing tip safety line established to ensure that planes avoid damage.
Airline general manager Bill Capelle said parts were immediately ordered to repair the plane, and he hoped that it will be back in operation over the weekend.
Capelle said the airline’s aging fleet will be bolstered with the arrival from Australia this weekend of a leased Dornier-228, a 19-seat German-built twin engine plane. Air Marshall Islands has used Dornier-228s since the mid-1980s, but the two it owns have been grounded since Aug. 2007 and the majority of outer islands with small airstrips have been without air service for 17 months. The Dash-8 is able to service only about one-third of the available runways long enough to handle the bigger plane.
Air Marshall Islands mechanics have readied one of the two airline-owned Dornier-228s to be flown to Taiwan to undergo a major overhaul so that it can return to service.
Capelle said the airline expects to dispatch the plane to an Air Asia repair factory in Taiwan at the beginning of February. The plane has been grounded since Aug. 2007 and requires an overhaul before it can be put back into regular commercial service.
The airline is using Taiwan government-provided funding to cover the costs of the overhaul in Taiwan that is expected to cost about $300,000 and take two-to-three months to complete, Capelle said.
